Nothing but net: Basketball dollars by school

By Chris Isidore, senior writerMarch 18, 2010: 8:04 AM ET

NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) -- Here's the breakdown on the revenue, expenses and profits of all the Division I college basketball programs.

The comparison between basketball revenues and profits is interesting, but not precise. That's because schools have latitude in their filings with the Department of Education in whether they attribute some expenses and revenues to a specific sport or a more general classification for their entire athletic department.

Many schools use that latitude to have revenue and expenses for one sport equal one another rather than show a profit or a loss, a trick of accounting that wouldn't pass muster with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Some schools even make their programs look worse. Duke University, a top seed in this year's NCAA men's basketball tournament, reported the largest loss of any men's basketball program last year after years of annual profits in the $4 million to $5 million range. The school said that was due to a shift in revenue to the non-sport specific classification.

Still, it's clear that men's basketball is a major source of funding for many colleges, and that profits are still far more common than losses for the major teams in March Madness. The numbers in the chart below reflect only dollars attributed to men's basketball.

If the Supreme Court rules that enrollees on the federal Obamacare exchange can't get subsidies, it could destroy the individual insurance market. The court will hold hearing on King v. Burwell on Wednesday. More